1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transport device for transporting reactor fuel rod cladding tubes transverse along a production line, comprising at least one member provided with a travel surface for said cladding tubes and a transport chain running in the direction of transport and parallel to the travel surface, said transport chain having a plurality of carriers arranged one after the other in the direction of transportation. More specifically, the invention relates to a conveyor having buffer storage between operating stations in a production line for reactor fuel rods which are transported in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the fuel rods.
2. The Prior Art
In a device according to the invention, the transport chain can be driven with an even, invariable speed even if pauses or variations in the working pace occur at some operating station. This is achieved by applying the principle, known per se, of letting the space between two operating stations be used as a buffer storage for product units coming from one of the stations.
A transport device according to the invention is intended for transporting reactor fuel rods between operating stations representing different stages in the production.